grand piano

Classification: 3 Chordophones / 31 Simple chordophones or zithers / 314 Board zithers / 314.1 True board zithers / 314.1-4-8 True board zithers sounded by hammers or beaters, with keyboard

Piano maker: Erard

Date: 1858

Village / Town: Paris

Country: France

Owner: Fryderyk Chopin Institute. Bought 2010 from Grzegorz Machnacki from Warsaw

Description: rosewood veneered, decorated with brass frames. Straight-, single-, double-, triple-strung, composite frame with six metal stress bars and capo tasto bar for the highest register, English double escapement action with underdampers

Inscriptions: on the keyboard cover inlaid in brass: Erard. in many places pressed: 30315; inside the case cover a round brass medal: LA SEULE GRANDE MÉDAILLE, COUNCIL MEDAIL, A L’EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE LONDRES 1851 / 1855 / MÉDAILLE / D’HONNEUR / A / ERARD; on the soundboard black painted: Par Brevet d’Invention / Seb: & P^re Erard /13 & 21 rue du Mail, / Paris; on the left side an engraved brass plate: Renowację fortepianu / Erard no 30315 / wykonała / Pracownia Pianin i Fortepianów / Grzegorz Machnacki / Warszawa, 1 marca 2010 [Renovation of Erard piano, serial no. 30315, by Grzegorz Machnacki’s piano workshop, Warsaw, 1 March 2010]; on the hammer shafts stamped: DESFOUGERES PARIS

Measurements: height 360 (960), width 1400, depth 2450 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A₂-a⁴ – 7 octaves, two pedals – una corda and dampers

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: D. Pawlak, ‘Érard’, Encyklopedia muzyczna PWM, vol. 3, ed. E. Dziębowska (Kraków, 1987);  E. M. Frederick, ‘Erard, Sébastien (et Frères)’, Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments, vol. 1 The Piano, ed. R. Palmieri (New York, 1994)

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